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PRESS ADVISORY

ATTORNEY GENERAL AND DISTRICT ATTORNEY ANNOUNCE INDICTMENT FOR HAZARDOUS WASTE VIOLATIONS IN COWETA COUNTY

January 8, 1998

Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker and Peter Skandalakis, District Attorney for the Coweta Judicial Circuit, jointly announced that today the Grand Jury in Coweta County indicted Darryl Parker on three felony counts of violating state hazardous waste laws. The indictment accuses Mr. Parker of storing over 1,000 drums of ignitable and toxic hazardous waste in a warehouse he had leased in Senoia, Georgia. Mr. Parker subsequently abandoned the waste. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has secured the 1,000 drums so that they no longer present an immediate danger, and is arranging for their proper disposal. The investigation of this case involved the State Environmental Protection Division (EPD) and the federal EPA’s Criminal Investigative Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Lee Ann de Grazia, who was appointed special prosecutor by the District Attorney of Coweta County, Peter Skandalakis.

District Attorney Skandalakis stated: "My office is committed to prosecuting those who would commit environmental crimes and jeopardize the health of all the citizens." He added: "We will prosecute environmental crimes to protect the peoples’ health in our District."

Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker stated: "We are pleased with the federal, state, and local cooperative efforts in obtaining this indictment. This is the third environmental crimes indictment this office has obtained in the past few months. These cases send a message that those that commit environmental crimes in Georgia will be prosecuted."

If convicted on all three felony counts, Mr. Parker could be sentenced for up to nine years in jail fined up to $50,000 for each day of each violation.